BEST LAST LEAP

Mia Cunningham, N.C. Dance Theatre

Staff Pick

She was so beloved as Clara in North Carolina Dance Theatres Nutcracker, you could forgive the company for being reluctant to allow Charlottes sweetheart, Mia Cunningham, to grow up. Nearly to the end of her career, Cunningham was youth and joy in the egg, playing such roles as Cinderella and Peter Pans Wendy during her 18-year stint at NCDT. Yet she could sizzle in Dwight Rhodens SALT and sparkle as the hyper majorette in Uri Sands All in the Trunk. Mature roles finally drifted her way in recent years: Juliets nurse in R&J, Blanche Du Bois in Streetcar. Now Cunningham has retired. How could anyone elses retirement seem so sudden after so long? Little girls in Charlotte may never again covet an NCDT stars dancing shoes with so much fervor. Well done.